Chapter 262 The Escalating Storm
At the Johnson family estate, Matthew looked at the news on his phone with excitement and said, "The online uproar is getting more intense. This time, the buzz is even worse than the incident involving Sarah and the private photos. Everyone is condemning the SR Group!"
Lawrence nodded in agreement. "If this momentum continues, the SR Group won't last long before it goes bust. When that happens, we'll monopolize Houston's building materials market!"
Grandma Johnson looked at Sandra with a smile and praised her. "Sandra, you really are something. As soon as you made your move, Sarah suffered a huge loss. I'm impressed!"
Sandra responded calmly as she drank her coffee. "This is just the opening act, it's nothing to make a fuss about. I promised you all that I would grind Sarah and Ryder into the dirt, and I'll definitely do it!"
Everyone in the Johnson family nodded, their admiration for Sandra growing even more.
Abigail curiously asked, "Aunt Sandra, I'm a bit worried. Since Ryder is the boy toy of the president of Maple Real Estate, wouldn't he try to pull some strings to help Sarah get out of this mess? If Maple Real Estate provides financial support, the SR Group's business won't collapse so easily!"
Sandra smiled mysteriously. "Maple Real Estate is going to be preoccupied with protecting themselves. When Maple Real Estate faces a crisis and has to make a choice, its president will definitely abandon Ryder. What financial support will there be then?"
Sandra then stood up and said to Matthew, "Drive me to Phoenix Real Estate. I have some matters to discuss with Roy!"
"Alright!" Matthew responded happily.
Although he was older than Sandra, Matthew had willingly served as her driver these past few days. He understood that Sandra was currently the most powerful person in the Johnson family. Once Sandra had dealt with Sarah and Ryder, she would go back overseas.
When she did so, she would definitely choose a successor for the Johnson family.
If Matthew took good care of Sandra in this period, it would undoubtedly be him.
So now, no matter how much hardship he endured, it was worth it.
Twenty minutes later, Sandra was dropped off at the Phoenix Real Estate office building. She went straight to Roy's office.
Roy was reviewing documents. When he saw Sandra come in, he quickly stood up. "Sandra, what brings you here?"
Sandra closed the office door and locked it. Then, she took off her coat and casually hung it on the nearby coat rack, revealing the sexy lace dress she was wearing underneath.
Sandra walked toward Roy with a seductive smile. " I came to see you. After all, you drank so much red wine in one go the other night. I wanted to see how you were doing."
Hearing this, Roy gulped hard. He nonchalantly said, "It was just a bottle of wine, no big deal! Even if I had another bottle, it wouldn't matter!"
"You're very strong," Sandra said, walking over and sitting on Roy's lap.
She grabbed his tie and whispered, "Actually, there's another matter I need to discuss with you today."
"What is it?" Roy asked.
"I want you to take out a loan of six hundred million dollars in the name of Phoenix Real Estate!"
Roy was about to make a move on Sandra, but when he heard this, he was shocked. He exclaimed, "What? A loan of six hundred million dollars? Is this a prank?"
Sandra's expression remained unchanged. "Have I ever played a prank on you before?"
Roy felt his head spin. "Sandra, I don't understand why you'd suddenly need such a large loan. If you need money, I can take some out from the company's accounts for you. It won't be six hundred million dollars, but fifty million dollars would be manageable!"
"Fifty million dollars won't cut it; it has to be at least six hundred million dollars!" Sandra said.
Roy grimaced. "Taking out such a large loan would practically mean mortgaging all of Phoenix Real Estate to the bank. The key point is that I can't make such a big decision on my own; I have to report it to the board of directors. Based on what I know of them, the higher-ups would never agree to it!"
Sandra raised an eyebrow. "Who said you have to report this to them? Are you telling me that as the president of Phoenix Real Estate, you can't make this decision on your own?"
Roy looked worried. "But if they find out, I'd get in trouble."
Before he could finish, Sandra interrupted him. "Where has your courage gone after all these years? Besides, would I ever harm you?"
Hearing this, Roy took a deep breath and clenched his fist. A fierce look appeared in his eyes. "Fuck it! Let's do it! I'm not afraid of anything! But before that, let me have some fun with you. You look stunning today!"
With that, he eagerly lunged at Sandra. Soon, the office was filled with intimate sounds.
At 5pm, Houston was hit with several explosive news stories.
—After Maple Real Estate handed over a building, all the homes in one building were found to have excessive formaldehyde levels!
—A building constructed by Maple Real Estate had a massive wall crack in one of the units!
—At a Maple Real Estate construction site, several workers were found to have been unpaid, and one worker attempted suicide by jumping off a building but was stopped just in time!
This series of news stories quickly shifted the online discussion from the SR Group incident to attacking Maple Real Estate.
It was important to know that Maple Real Estate dominated the real estate market in Houston. The majority of the city's residents lived in houses built by Maple Real Estate.
With Maple Real Estate's housing quality issues exposed, it naturally garnered more attention. As a result, many criticisms against Maple Real Estate surfaced online.
[Our house was bought from Maple Real Estate! It was so expensive but the quality is shit!]
[After we moved in, the formaldehyde smell was so strong that it killed our dog!]
[Actually, people don't know that Maple Real Estate inflated our housing prices! They're heartless developers!]
[Their president is gay and a pervert!]
[Let's unite and demand refunds for those who bought their houses! For those who haven't, let's choose another developer! Phoenix Real Estate is actually pretty good!]
Although most of these leading critics online were newly registered accounts with little credibility, most netizens still supported them!
After all, even without the issues surrounding Maple Real Estate, the general public's impression of real estate developers was pretty low.
As the news had spread widely, Ryder soon knew what was going on. Looking at the news trends, he smiled coldly.
"Interesting!" he said.
At that moment, his phone rang. It was the head of security.
Ryder initially thought someone had come to cause trouble at Maple Real Estate ,but when he answered, he heard the head of security whisper, "Mr. Clark, there's a woman downstairs saying she wants to see you. She says her name is Barbara. Do you know her?"
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